Natural gas has been tagged with the label of "fuel of the future" for more than 30 years. It is abundant, it is clean, it is affordable and it is here, meaning it is produced in the United States.

And in Texas, we produce about 25 percent of the natural gas produced in the U.S.

Natural gas has caught the attention of consumers, utilities and politicians. Even President Obama has said kind things about natural gas.

Tom Fanning, CEO of Southern Company, believes in an "all of the above" approach to electric generation, but he knows that natural gas has the inside track.

In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Fanning noted that the Southern Company provides electricity to consumers in Georgia, Alabama, parts of Mississippi and Florida. Southern is building a new coal plant in Kemper County, Miss., and a nuclear plant in Georgia.

In Nacogdoches, Southern is building a power station that will convert trash from lumber and other forms of biomass waste into electricity.

Southern has increased its use of natural gas and decreased its coal consumption. In 2012, Southern's energy mix was 47 percent for natural gas and 35 percent for coal. Five years ago natural gas made up 16 percent of the mix and coal had a 70 percent market share.

Even though the Environmental Protection Agency has been after natural gas, the Obama administration has tried to regulate the coal industry out of business through increased regulation of carbon dioxide emissions.

Since 1990, power companies have selected coal for merely 6 percent of new generation. Natural gas was the fuel for 77 percent.

A dramatic reduction in price has given natural gas a bigger advantage over other energy sources lately. Natural gas is 50 percent cheaper than coal when it is selling for $6 per thousand cubic feet (mcf). Today, natural gas can be purchased for $2 per mcf.

Prices are soft because of the oversupply of natural gas. Compared to last year, natural gas stocks have increased 31 percent.

Because of the economic recession, use of natural gas is down. Production remains high because of the new drilling and completion techniques.

Fanning sees natural gas consumption increasing some 50 percent in the near future, because it will be used in chemicals, manufacturing and transportation.

Fanning believes that natural gas will be the dominant energy source for electricity generation in the future, but he is not putting all of his eggs in one basket.

Alex Mills is president of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers. The opinions expressed are solely of the author.